Idaho football loses at Arkansas State; Idaho State routed by Cal Poly

JONESBORO, Ark. The Vandals started a new quarterback and finished with the same result.

Redshirt freshmam Jake Luton made his first college start in place of the injured Matt Linehan (ankle) and ran for three touchdowns, but he also tossed three interceptions as Idaho lost 49-35.

“I thought he did some good things,” Vandals coach Paul Petrino said. “First start, you talk about fight. He competed his tail off. He did a good job. Obviously, the more experience you get the better you see some things and read some things.”

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Idaho (1-4, 0-2 Sun Belt) is 0-15 on the road under Petrino, who said he was impressed with his team’s grit.

“I was proud of the way our guys fought,” he said. “I thought our guys really fought hard; played hard. They made some mistakes that you can’t make, but as far as the will to fight and how hard they played, I was proud of them for that.”

Michael Gordon ran for 221 yards and three touchdowns for Arkansas State (2-3, 1-0), which outgained the Vandals 521-338.

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At Troy, Oct. 17

Cal Poly crushes Idaho State 58-26

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. The Bengals trailed 28-20 at halftime, but lost a fumble and failed to recover the ball on a kickoff on two separate plays in the opening minutes of the second half.

“When one of the best players (Xavier Finney) in the history of your program fumbles and the rest of the team can’t pick it up, you are probably going to end up getting white washed, and we got white washed in the second half,’’ Idaho State coach Mike Kramer said.

“The fumble and the three personal fouls in about five minutes changed the complexity of the game. Those personal fouls are complete selfishness on the guys.’’

Idaho State (1-4, 0-2) gave up 605 yards, one week after allowing 80 points to UNLV.

Michael Sanders threw for 285 yards, three TDs and an interception for the Bengals. Madison Mangum (Timberline High) caught two TDs, and Finney added 103 yards and a touchdown on the ground.